Ireti Kingibe, ex-wife of Baba
Gana Kingibe, a former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF),
says her husband did not betray the late Moshood Abiola.

Abiola is the presumed winner of
the 1993 presidential election.

In June, President Muhammadu
Buhari confered Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) and Grand
Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) on Abiola and Kingibe respectively.

Kingibe was criticised as
undeserving of a similar honour because he allegedly abandoned Abiola when it
mattered most.

But in a chat with The Interview,
Kingibe’s ex-wife said it was Abiola who left her former husband in the cold.

Ireti said a lot of people did
not know what Kingibe went through and he also has not made it public.

“It’s not a view. I know that
Kingibe did not betray Abiola because I was there. I am not just saying this. I
think I am one of his most vocal critics. But that aspect of criticism is not
fair, and it is not true,” she said.

“Whether Kingibe deserves
national honors or not, if you are giving it to June 12, then he was part of
it. But saying that he betrayed Abiola (I have nothing to gain from telling the
truth), was unfair.

“Maybe a lot of people didn’t see
what he went through himself. He also did not care to make it public. Everybody
says Kingibe betrayed Abiola, how? Nobody tells us. At least I haven’t been
told.”

She said her ex-husband’s decison
to work for the Sani Abacha regime was made “collectively that not just Kingibe
but remember they had Jakande and so many people from the Abiola/Kingibe camp
in the government.”

“They were under the misguided
notion that Abacha was going to hand over to them. And really, as I have said
over and over again, Kingibe is no longer my husband and I am under no
obligation to say anything good about him,” Ireti said.

“But I also do not believe in
telling lies. And as I have said to many people in the past, they are all
guilty of bad judgement and not bad will.”

She said it was strange that
Abiola left the country for a while without telling Kingibe.

“The truth is that Abiola needed
Kingibe to win the elections but may not have been as comfortable with him as
he should have been. When Abiola left Nigeria, I think it would be really
strange to run away from the country and you are not going to say anything to
your running mate,” Ireti said.

“In truth, Baba Kingibe only went
to see Abiola and found out that Abiola had left the country. And when Abiola
called from abroad, it was me he got. Those days we had landlines. Baba was not
at home. I picked up the phone and he said to me in Yoruba that I should tell
him that a bird does not tell another bird that a stone is coming.

“So, when Baba came back, I said
Abiola called and this is the message he left for you. Baba said to me, ‘did he
call to apologize?’ I said no, he did not call to apologize. He just gave an
explanation or a rationalization for his action and this is what he said. He
‘no, no! You didn’t understand his Yoruba well.’

“I said you can go and find out
from anybody. I can’t discuss their relationship, I can’t discuss the depth of
it. I can only discuss my perspective of it because I was there at the time.
Yes, I did think when Abiola went away, came back, Kingibe stayed in the
country and stuck it out to the end, though his passport along with mine were
seized.”

She said her ex-husband had the
option to either to work for the Abacha regime or be killed.

“It was either Kingibe stayed in
his government right in front of him or he buries him, Kingibe is dead. There
are no two ways,” Ireti said.